Analysis of the more than 15,000 submissions made about the Zero Carbon Bill provide a critical insight into New Zealanders’ thinking on our country’s path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says the Minister for Climate Change.

The Ministry for the Environment has today released a summary of submissions made during consultation on the proposed Zero Carbon Bill and a full report of the submissions is available here.

“I firstly want to thank all those people who made submissions on the Bill,” James Shaw said.

“I also want to thank the Ministry for the Environment for its work in coordinating the Zero Carbon Bill consultation process and then working through the mountain of submissions received.

“The submissions clearly show that the New Zealanders who participated in the consultation support a path to a low emissions economy by 2050, with nearly universal support for an independent Climate Change Commission to advise on and monitor New Zealand’s progress towards emissions reduction goals.

“The vast majority of respondents want New Zealand to do everything we can to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and offset the remainder, to reach ‘net-zero’ emissions by 2050.

“At the same time, there was a strong representation from people and businesses who, whilst supporting the overall direction, expressed caution about the speed and scale of the transition and the pressure it will put their sectors under.

“We have to ensure that those concerns are heard and included as we put together the final shape of the Zero Carbon Bill. We need to take everyone with us and leave no one behind.

“These 15,009 submissions will combine with the advice we have received from the Productivity Commission, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Māori interests, and consultation with other political parties to help us finalise the draft Zero Carbon Bill that will be introduced to Parliament next year,” James Shaw said.

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